Why not replace female condoms with menstrual pads?

When looking at the use of condoms, male condoms are used more than female condoms and men have a privilege of getting them for free.

In public toilets you find condoms, at clinics they give condoms for free and in supermarkets regular condoms used by almost everyone are very cheap.

A pack of four goes for 50 cents and most sexually active men can afford that and every time people go to clinics or hospitals for HIV testing and for contraception, they are given a packet of condoms.

What is the point though of giving people condoms for free? Sex is a choice and an act of pleasure which individuals act on according to their will.

At a local university there was a time when an NGO was going around giving out condoms to schools and constructing stands and containers to put condoms in.

Boys were more excited about the idea than girls and girls asked the people that came to give out condoms why they did not replace their condoms with sanitary pads as they did not use condoms as much as boys.

Their complaint was proved within a week as boys were going to ask for more condoms from the wardens and at that time female condoms were still unused in female toilets.

This then becomes unfair to women since those free female condoms given to them are rarely used. Why not replace female condoms in public toilets with menstrual pads?

Women need menstrual pads more than female condoms as they are of great use every month. Nothing can substitute menstrual pads and female condoms can always be substituted by male condoms.

There are situations whereby some girls in poor communities miss school for up to a week when they are on their periods all because they cannot afford pads, and all they get for free are condoms which do not help in any way during menstruation.

In hospitals girls or women get affected by cervical cancer all because they use all sorts of improvised pads during menstruation since that would be cheap though harmful to the cervix.

For those women with heavy flows a tissue will not be of much help as they would have to change it every now and then and tissue does not sit well in their organ. These issues seem to be ignored by health authorities who can push forward the cry of women and what they are going through to the Government and other organisations who help women.

Instead of giving women and girls free condoms in public toilets, why not give them free sanitary pads, menstrual cups, re-usable pads, tampons and cotton because some girls end up using stockings and rags all because they cannot afford proper sanitary pads.

One can abstain from sex but can never make their body skip a period all because in that particular month they cannot afford menstrual pads.

A girl child cannot miss important lectures, exams, lessons and classes because of menstruation which is not even a choice but nature.

Not everyone knows when her period will start and it is not possible to hold menstruation up until you reach a time where you have stored your pads. As for men they can hold their erection up until they get hold of condoms.

This shows how important sanitary pads are. This also shows the importance of having sanitary pads in public places.

When a woman spoils her dress it is difficult to hide it and everyone will be labelling the woman as someone filthy which then leads to isolation but a man can hide an erection and with time it goes away unlike a menstrual stain that sticks with you until you wash your dress.

Menstruation can catch a woman off guard and make her unable to continue with her day as she would normally do.

Providing sanitary pads in the bathroom would help eliminate any discomfort among other people and allow a woman to do activities she would usually participate in during the day.

A woman should not go around asking for sanitary pads when she cannot afford to buy them and the only way to avoid that is to give them out for free. It is embarrassing to go around asking for pads because for some menstruation is a secret and it is not something you can go about telling people.

You might find a situation whereby a woman is surrounded by men and she needs money to buy pads and it would be difficult to ask for it as she would have to say out what it’s for.

Let’s keep chatting on khahlisoncube@gmail.com or 0776441831 and send issues which need to be addressed.